How many Arctic cowboys does it take to lasso an iceberg?

Will Rose, independent photographer who regularly works with Greenpeace, writes from the Esperanza...

We’re in and out of internet range now so I’m not sure when this will go up on the website. As if to mark the occasion thick swirls of fog have cut us off from the recent blue crisp Arctic horizon.

The crew are subdued but in good spirits albeit a little tired after the rough Atlantic crossing, long working days and the sudden lack of awe inspiring scenery of Greenland’s coastline. Sailing in towards the mountains around Nuuk after being starved of land felt like sailing into a new world, a different planet which for those who hadn’t seen it could only silently gaze in amazement bereft of the ability to speak. The colours here are incredible, the evening sun washes jagged green mountains, distant glaciers, small islands and the serene blue sea with golden light. Birds swoop and effortlessly glide by the ship mirrored in mercury like silver water turning your head until they’re silhouetted against the evening sun and a shimmer of a million diamond sparkles.

I photographed a native Inuit fisherman, in Nuuk, who has come out to support the Greenpeace campaign here in the Arctic. He reminded me of so many people I met with my girlfriend while working in Russia and China last year. He was speaking Danish but with strong local dialect, I understood a little of what he was saying with my limited Swedish, well the odd word. He was a calm and intelligent man stating his concerns for his livelihood that would be destroyed by the carelessness, greed and profit hungry oil companies. His eyes shining wisdom - very similar the to the nomadic people we met in the Yamal Peninsula, in North Russia. And just like Yasha, the tribe leader we stayed with in Siberia – he was in tune with his environment and increasingly worried by the changes happening to his landscape. In Yahsa’s case it was the permafrost melting, the lake ecosystem collapsing and their food source disappearing. The fisherman was aware of the fine balance of nature and how easily it can be disrupted and tipped out of sync.

We arrived 120 miles west of Disko Island on Sunday night and within a few hours of arriving here a helicopter appeared out of the fog and viewed us, turned then disappeared back into the greyness. Our presence here seems to be causing great paranoia and fear. I don’t understand why an oil company has the protection of the navy, marine police, special forces, helicopters and countless speedboats to protect an oil rig from a peaceful Greenpeace ship while the surrounding pristine wilderness and the global climate gets none.

I’ve just returned from a morning taking pictures of Cairn Energy’s massive logistical operation to stop Icebergs drifting towards the two drilling vessels. Huge tugs linger by football pitch-sized blue hunks of ice ready to lasso them and drag them away. They even have ships firing huge jets of water for hours onto icebergs to make them melt and break up - a reflection of the oil industry’s attitude to the Arctic.

I can’t help thinking of all the people my girlfriend Kasja and I encountered when working in the Ganges Delta in India. Seeing homes that had been destroyed by cyclones, washed into the sea, women carrying concrete blocks and bolders on their head building sea walls to protect themselves – as they pointing out to sea saying “that’s where my home was.”

If climate change continues and the ice here continues to melt, the 4 million people who live in the Indian part of the Sunderbans where we were welcomed and greeted with hope will face the threat of rising sea levels.

Climate Change is not a secondary issue on this campaign. It’s always in the forefront of our minds. We’re here to bear witness to the oil industry’s desperate search for the last drops of an addictive substance society needs to kick. We’re a long way from home but we hope we’re doing something important by challenging the oil industry and saying loud and clear that we need to finally go beyond oil.

Have Greenpeace ships pigs who are fed in the cages, cage hoes, young calves, commercial salmon, commersial heering in their freezer? Have Greenpeace ...

Have Greenpeace ships pigs who are fed in the cages, cage hoes, young calves, commercial salmon, commersial heering in their freezer? Have Greenpeace ships a policy against the discarding of animal residues remaining?
In Greenland folks eat a large degree only adult animals who have lived all's there life out there in the beautiful nature. Up to 75% energy supply from hydroelectric plants in Greenland(if one takes hydropower plants under constrution now). The remaining 25 % shall be provided with excess energy from the hydropower plants utilities made into hydrogen.
See Thats GREEN stands for also!

Melting icebergs cannot raise sea levels, they are already displacing water equivalent to their volume when floating. Likewise the Arctic which is bas...

Melting icebergs cannot raise sea levels, they are already displacing water equivalent to their volume when floating. Likewise the Arctic which is basically one gigantic iceberg. I think you are confusing the Arctic with the Antarctic which is an ice-covered land mass. Large-scale Antarctic ice melting really would raise sea levels.

Its a good job the "friendly Innuit" chose to make his living through fish and not seals eh? otherwise his livelihood would have already bee...

Its a good job the "friendly Innuit" chose to make his living through fish and not seals eh? otherwise his livelihood would have already been destroyed.

Of course the Navy should be there to protect both the rig and the drill ship. How ironic if the distraction caused by environmentalists boarding either vessel, caused the one thing they were apparently trying to stop. Do you understand that?

Paranoia and fear?? more like a bit of light entertainment and monotony breaker! In all honesty Tiger Woods divorce has had more airtime. So has it all been worth it? All the extra resources used by the Esperanza, its crew and by default the Navy vessels. It's not the workers on either of the Stena Vessels that made the decision to explore in the Arctic. Or shall you blame them and demand that they quit their livelihoods cos that will stop all oil exploration. Go camp on Cairns doorstep with more molasses.

If only we had a green industry as enthusiastic to get the job done like these oil drilling folk. I understand green energy is to take a lot of time m...

If only we had a green industry as enthusiastic to get the job done like these oil drilling folk. I understand green energy is to take a lot of time money and energy to start seeing any benefits from and that that oil seems to be a more reliable source of energy. However what baffles me is the governments ability to turn a head to the devastation caused by such greedy outlooks and the use and processing of such dirty energy.